Unexpected Relationships
by Kenzie Miller
Summary: Unexpected Relationships is about a girl named Kenzie and she moves to African for a fresh start. She ends up working at a wildlife rehab center. While in Africa Kenzie not only creates a rare bond between herself and a lion but might even find true love


Unexpected Relationships

Chapter one

I drove down the dirt road raddled with pot holes. My sunglasses were the only thing keeping the dry African dirt out of her eyes. When I finally pulled onto the dirt drive leading up to my new shack I cut the engine off and looked back on what had happened in the past year that had led to me moving to Africa. I had been kicked out of residency at Duke for misdiagnosing a patient that almost resulted in his death. My boyfriend had cheated on me with my best friend and that resulted in me losing a roommate, and that means that I had to tackle all of the rent which wasn't going to happen. A week from being evicted from the apartment I had finally realized that I had hit rock bottom. Now I is in Africa, my favorite place, living in a one room shack that I had bought with money my parents lent me and is practically a thunderstorm from falling apart. I didn't have a job and did not know anybody here. I was completely alone.

After unpacking all of my belongings I began to explore the area. Walking outside the only thing I could see was the dirt road, and a few trees; other than that the only thing in her backyard was dirt, lots and lots of dirt. After walking about a mile or so down the road I found a cute little market that was set up just off of the shoulder of the make shift road. The market included some colorful produce like bananas, squash, and a red prickly thing that I didn't know the name of. The women were selling pretty beaded jewelry. The stand contained beaded headdresses made out of straw, necklaces with big brown wooden beads on them, and a few bracelets with many of the African colors on them. They looked festive but I really needed to save the money that I have.

I continued walking until I saw a rusted sign that said "Kilimanjaro Wildlife Rehabilitation Center."

"Omigod," I exclaimed. I had always wanted to work at one of these places. My favorite animals were lions, hippos and elephants so what would be cooler than to work up close with them. "Omg I have to touch one," I said.

I turned down the path and started towards the front gates. Further up was a bigger sign over an archway surrounded with tall electric fences. It looked pretty intimidating from the outside. Once passing through the gates a wooden shack with a straw roof caught my eye. When entering I saw a white man sitting at a desk in the corner. He was maybe in his thirties with short brown hair, pretty good looking, but looked like he hasn't shaved in a while. I felt itchy just looking at him. He was talking with an African boy who looked to be in his early twenties. When I entered their eyes immediately turned in my direction.

"Hi," I stammered, "I was wondering what kind of requirements someone needed in order to work here."

The safari man, Rick, sitting at the desk said "Honey this is Africa, no one here needs any requirements to do anything. The only thing you need to do in order to get a job here is to talk to me."

My heart was racing and I think my forehead started prickling with sweat but I knew that I wanted this job more than anything so I had to put my big girl panties on and act like it.

"Well my name is Kenzie Miller and I love animals and always dreamed of working at a place like this. I have been through med school and can use my knowledge to help out with injured animals. Yeah I know veterinary medicine is different from human medicine but it's better than not knowing anything at all. I can also help if someone gets hurt out in the field and,"

"Alright, Alright, You definitely seem like you have the drive and the abilities to work here so Kayode here will take you into the back to give you your uniform and a schedule. You will start training under him tomorrow."

That was it? Gosh that seemed just too easy. I shrugged and followed Kayode into the back and saw a pile of t-shirts that was the color of elephant dung. He held one up to me and said "that'll do" and told me to meet him in the office tomorrow at six 0'clock. I was like IN THE MORNING? I wanted to tell him that I was American and that just wasn't going to work but then I realized that would not be such a good idea seeing as I'm the new employee and all. Kayode gave me a ride back home in a beat up safari jeep and started telling me about African culture. He said that each tribe has a different and distinctive dance that they perform so others would know what tribe they were from. He also said that stories were told threw dance and that they were mostly about a legend of the past that had killed a big lion and saved the entire village. He seemed to mock his culture in a way that confused me. I always heard of Africans loving their culture and not caring what others thought about it. I was curious to find out why Kayode didn't feel the same but I figured it was too soon to ask.

When I finally arrived home I waved goodbye to Kayode and went inside. I hadn't released that I was starving until I finally sat down on my plush green sofa in what someone might call a living room. I walked into the cozy kitchen and pulled some ramon noodles out of the pantry. After preparing my meal I sat back down on the couch and surveyed my little shack. It consisted of a small bathroom, medium sized bedroom which was connected to the "living room", and then my cute little kitchen. Even though I would have most likely complained of this back home I thought that I might actually start to care for my little shack. It was cute in a very small and worn down way. Now that my spirits had been lifted I could finally rest and start getting excited for tomorrow.

Chapter two

It had been three days since I began working at the wildlife rehabilitation center and I started to get the hang of things and didn't feel like such an outsider. The day before I met two more workers; a guy named Alex and his partner, Natasha. Alex was tall and skinny, kind of a lanky looking guy. Natasha looked like an African girl gone American and then back to African again. She had dark skin and knew a lot about Africa but she had an American vibe to her. She had long black braided hair instead of the bald hairstyle most African women wear. They were both very nice people and accepted me into their "little group" easily. Kayode and I were partners and ever since the night he dropped me off at my house I knew we were going to get along great. He spent most of the day telling me more about African culture and about the Bush people and how they survived off the land. I called him my African encyclopedia because he seemed as if he knew everything about African culture and way of life. He and I were in charge of taking care of an adolescent Elephant and a baby rhino. The elephant was a female named Tumelo, which means faith. She had such a happy personality and would be a great mother because she always tried to nurture Kayode and me whenever we entered her enclosure. Tumelo is one of the few animals on the reservation that was not allowed back into the wild. She came to the WRC in 2007 when her mother was killed by poachers. When she was young her handler exposed Tumelo to too much human interaction and would not be able to survive on her own. The so called small rhino was named Zuberi, which means strong. He was about 200 pounds and had a nub on his nose where his horn will grow in. He was sweet and shy and his mother was also killed by poachers. Poachers were taking over the savannah and every day the staff would find bodies of animals with their horns cut off or ones that had been skinned to make clothing. The WRC gets a lot of orphaned animals and only maybe half of them can be released back into the wild. Unlike Tumelo, Zuberi will be released when she is old enough to take care of herself.

My job is to get there in the morning and prepare breakfast for the animals. I feed Zuberi goat's milk and he also gets some hay since we are starting to convert him over to solid foods now that he's getting bigger. Kayode helps Alex and Rick clean out the animal enclosures. When we are done with our morning chores we usually talk about finances, medical issues, or something regarding poachers on our lands. We are all in the office when Rick starts to read allowed an article from the newspaper. I wasn't paying much attention on the subject because I was too busy staring at his tan muscular arms. He sure did look good in the uniform, which is a fact. Rick was my boss and at least three years older than me; what was I thinking. Rick would never fall for a girl like me; a blonde haired blue eyed freak that likes to stay inside and watch Disney movies and has a complete lack of self confidence.

All of a sudden and crackled voice comes out of Rick's radio. "We've got a situation; a nomadic male lion attacked a pride and ended up defeating the dominant male. He tried to rid his new pride of all the cubs but the females fought back. All that's left of the pride is a dead female and her two very small cubs. Be prepared for them when I return, I'll be back soon."

"Alright, these cubs are probably malnourished and will most likely need medical attention, Miller you know stuff like that correct?" Rick said.

"Um… yeah I mean I went to med school but it wasn't veterinary" I exclaimed

"That'll have to do. Like you said, they must have some things in common."

I was too excited that Rick had remembered our conversation from the other day to realize that they were all waiting for me to get ready for the arrival of the cubs. I quickly showed an awkward smile and sped off to the clinic.

About fifteen minutes later a man about my age walked through the door. He was really tan from the African sun and had gorgeous green eyes. He had long brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He had a sexy Tarzan look about him; you could definitely tell that he had a muscular build under his shirt. He was carrying a crate with two small lion cubs that were maybe five pounds. There was a male and a female. The female was small and her eyes were still partially closed. Safari guy did not mention anything about the cubs being a few days old. She was soft and so fragile. She was covered in light spots and had an adorable tail that I liked to wrap around my fingers. While listening to her heart she started calling for her mother. It resembles a chirping sound. My heart called out to these helpless little cubs. The female seemed healthy except for a she was dehydrated and a little malnourished.

After I hooked the female cub up to an IV I turned my attention to the male cub. He was about the same size as his sister and almost looked like twins except he had green eyes and a fresh claw mark slashing through one of them. His eye lid was bloody and swollen shut.

"He was attacked by the alpha male" said the rescuer. "Thank goodness the mothers fought him off."

I put some antibiotics and tonic cream on his eye and covered it with a large band aid. We stuck both cubs into a crate to rest and let the medicine and the IV's go to work.

"I'll stay here and keep an eye on them over night" he said

"Do you mind if I join you? I want to make sure these little guys will be okay and I just can't seem to part from them." I said

"Um I guess that will be okay… I am sorry but I have no idea who you are." He said with a confused expression on his face.

"Oh um yeah, Rick hired me three days ago. I'm Kenzie."

He flashed an intrigued grin that showed off his white teeth. "I'm Adam, Rick's younger brother. He never told me he hired someone new. I have been lacking a partner ever since my last one got eaten by a lion." My face froze. "Just joking mate; welcome to the crew partner."

He held out his hand and I clasped it in mine. _I am so going to have to thank Rick for this_, Adam thought.

While Adam was setting up sleeping bags in the clinic I went to go find Natasha. Natasha and I have become close over the past few days. She is happy she finally has a girl to gossip with. I saw her sitting at a picnic table alone. She was waving me over. I barely ever get her alone because her boyfriend Alex is always hanging around. She had a humorous smile on her face.

"So I see you've met Adam" she exclaimed with a mischievous grin.

"Yeah he seemed nice. I did not know Rick had a brother."

"Yeah their father founded this place and left his sons in charge once he became weak from old age." Natasha said. "Anyways, Adam seemed to have liked you" She couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh shut up it's not like that he's just being nice because I'm new." I said while giving her a little shove.

"Whatever you say home girl. Haha come on let's get in line for dinner." She led the way towards the dining hall.

For dinner Kayode had made chicken with a sweet sauce, it was delicious. Sitting at the table between Kayode and Natasha I realized that Rick was not at dinner.

"Where is Rick?" I asked.

"He wasn't hungry so he volunteered to prepare the animals meals" said Kayode in his African accent.

I excused myself from the picnic table and trotted over to the feeding room where I found Rick with his hands missing in a bucket of raw meat.

"Hey you're missing out on a great meal. Kayode definitely has a gift." I said

"Yeah I just wasn't feeling it tonight." He seemed to be somewhere else.

"Well do you mind if I help you? I'm finished eating anyway." I held my breath as he replied.

"Sure you can prepare Tumelo and Zuberi's meal. I'm almost finished with the lions and then I'll help you."

We stood side by side preparing meals and talking about what we want to do with our lives. I said I wanted to travel the world and he wanted to make a difference by saving the African lion. He confided in me and told me how his dad has Parkinson's and about how his health has taken a steep decline the past year. While discussing his father I could see tears forming in his eyes.

"Hey it's going to be okay. You're doing everything you can by taking over the rehabilitation center and by standing by him through the tough times." I soothed while rubbing his shoulders and back to calm him down.

He let out a shaky breath and turned to caress me in his arms. I stood there in his arms for a few minutes while he tried to pull himself together. It felt so nice to have him confide in me when he couldn't talk to anyone else. This wasn't just any middle school crush. I actually cared for him and at that moment I was willing to do anything just to see a smile spread across his tanned face. Right then Adam walked through the door and we all froze. Rick immediately released and cleared his throat.

Adam went as pale as a ghost and made a beeline for the refrigerator. "Sorry to interrupt but I need to collect some milk for the cubs." On his way out he gave Rick a nasty glare.

Later that night as I snuggled into the sleeping bag Adam set up for me I grabbed the male lion cub and started to rub him as I tried to go to sleep. The team decided earlier that day to name the cubs Kalazar and Amari. As I held Kalazar in my arms I listened to the rhythmic intake of air and watching his belly rise every few seconds. Right as my eyes closed Adam came in. He seemed frustrated and it just got worse as fought with the zipper on his sleeping bag. He finally took out a large knife and just slit it open. What was wrong with him and what made him so angry?


End file.
